Mission: Africa: May 2011

My MIssion

Now that it's 14 year civil war is over, Liberia is the 3rd poorest country in the world. Drugs, brothels, disease, starvation, and random acts of violence are only some of the after effects the war has left behind. The beaches are now used as giant toilets. Drugs are an escape for ex-child soldiers to forget about the people they have killed and tortured. 85 percent of the country is unemployed, and the 15 percent of the people who are employed are making an average of only one dollar a day. The average life span for a Liberian is 40 years. This is due to the mass amount of disease in the country and the very small amount of medical help. Because of the high death rate at a young age, there are more and more orphaned children each day.

The people of Liberia need help. My name is Tyler Morris and I have been getting more and more uncomfortable living in the States, waking up every morning and going to school, eating out, and going home to play Xbox 360, while there are people over there dying and not ever knowing what it is like to be loved.

I have had enough. I'm going over there. I have teamed up with an amazing organization called Orphan Relief and Rescue (http://www.orphanreliefandrescue.org/) and I will be heading to their headquarters in Seattle Washington at the end of this summer 2011 for my training. In October I will be heading to Liberia where I will be apart of their child development team. I specifically, will be working with the older boys (many of them are ex-child soldiers). I will be mentoring them and taking them out to other organizations where they can get jobs. I will be teaching them that they are each important, special, and loved.

Orphan Relief and Rescue has requested that I raise a total of 10 thousand dollars before I head over there. I have already raised 3. I have 7 to go, and I need your help. If you would like to help send me to Liberia there are a few different ways you can donate.

1. send a check or cash to 83 Ralston Ave, Hamden CT, 06517

make the check payable to- Gateway Christian Fellowship

make sure my name is in the memo!

this will be tax deductable!

2. send cash or a check to Orphan Relief and Rescue

make check payable to- Orphan Relief and Rescue

1416 SW 151 St., Burien, WA, 98166

make sure my name is in the memo or attach a note saying it is for me otherwise I wont get it!

3. Just click that donate button on my blog below and enter any amount!

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Who Says...

Who says
Who says you're not perfect
Who says you're not worth it
Who says you're the only one that's hurting
Trust me
That's the price of beauty
Who says you're not pretty
Who says you're not beautiful
Who says

these were the words i heard over and over again, belted out from the back of my girlfriend's bright yellow bug by two preteen's off-key voices. one of the kids was a girl who had just turned 14. her dad couldn't live with her and her mom because he was "mad ignorant". he would beat them up "because he was bigger, older, and stronger". 4 hours before she was singing with me in the car, she had beat up a girl at school so bad that the other girl had to be rushed to the hospital. the other kid was an 11 year old boy. his mom is a drug dealer and sometimes he has to find another home to sleep at because his mom is "busy". i took these kids out to chucky cheese for the girl's 14th birthday because her parents failed to remember the date. these kids both come one of the many projects of new haven. they call it "the G" (which stands for ghetto).

since i have another 3 months before i go to africa, i decided to find someone who could use the love and joy God has given me. i decided to give it to "the G". i have been going there almost 7 days a week for the last 3 months. there are shootings there almost every other day, drug dealers crowd every nook and corner, and condoms and razor blades cover the small playground that was built for the children. every wednesday, me and a few other incredible and selfless friends of mine have a bible study for both the adults and the kids and it is one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen. it started with just a few kids and now we have about 50 that show up every week. now i cant come within 50 feet of the place without moms and kids running out to greet me with hugs and hellos.

i was put on this earth to be with people like this. i live to put smiles on the faces of those who have no reason to smile. "the G" is only making me more excited and more prepared for what lies ahead of me in africa. but until i get there... you will find me singing selena gomez with the broken children of new haven in the back of my girlfriend's yellow bug.